1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an overheat protection mechanism, and more particularly, to an overheat protection apparatus and method for an internal hard drive of a computer system.
2. Related Art
Specific computer equipments and systems are required to operate under high-temperature or closed environments. When the temperature is rising, electrical components of the computer systems may be overheated, which causes malfunctioning or failures. Therefore, effective monitors and managements of heat are extremely significant for the computer systems that are operating under hot environments. Beside, many electrical systems are designated to be equipped with waterproof and dustproof functions; the housings and relevant structures have to be designed according to the usage requirements and the levels of Ingress Protection (IP) standards. Namely, these electrical systems are well-closed housings to have waterproof and dustproof functions; yet these waterproof and dustproof housings also limit the dissipation of the internal heats inside the electrical systems.
Take a ruggedized tablet PC as an example of a computer system. If the computer system is operating under an environmental temperature of 60° C., the actual temperature of its internal hard drive possibly reaches 85° C., which absolutely exceeds the standard operative temperature of the hard drive. In said situation, the computer system will consequently incur a crash, such as the generation of a “blue screen”. If the user is still operating the computer system while it is overheated, the user's operation at the moment will cause data loss of the hard drive, or even cause damage of the hard drive.